A look at the shareholders of BerGenBio ASA (OB:BGBIO) can tell us which group is the most powerful. Institutions often own shares in larger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of smaller ones. Companies that have been privatized tend to have low insider ownership.

BerGenBio is a small company with a market capitalization of 1.8 billion kr, so it may still fly under the radar of many institutional investors. Our analysis of company ownership, below, shows that the institutions are visible on the share register. Let’s dig deeper into each type of owner, to learn more about BerGenBio.

See our latest analysis for BerGenBio

What does institutional ownership tell us about BerGenBio?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it is included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions listed, especially if they are growing.

As you can see, institutional investors hold a significant share of BerGenBio. This suggests some credibility with professional investors. But we cannot rely solely on this fact since institutions sometimes make bad investments, like everyone else. If multiple institutions change their minds on a stock at the same time, you could see the stock price drop quickly. So it’s worth checking out BerGenBio’s revenue history below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

We note that hedge funds have no significant investment in BerGenBio. Looking at our data, we can see that the major shareholder is Meteva AS with 27% of the outstanding shares. The second and third largest shareholders are Investinor Direkte AS and Investinor AS, with an equal number of shares in their name at 8.2%.

Looking further, we found that 54% of the shares are held by the top 5 shareholders. In other words, these shareholders have a say in the decisions of the company.

While studying the institutional ownership of a company can add value to your research, it is also recommended that you research analyst recommendations to better understand a stock’s expected performance. There are a reasonable number of analysts covering the stock, so it can be useful to know their overall view on the future.

Insider Ownership of BerGenBio

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. The management of the company runs the company, but the CEO will answer to the board of directors, even if he is a member of it.

Most view insider ownership as a positive because it can indicate that the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, there are times when too much power is concentrated within this group.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders hold shares of BerGenBio ASA. As individuals, the insiders collectively own 41 million kr of the 1.8 billion kr society. It’s good to see insider investing, but it might be worth checking to see if those insiders have been buying.

General public property

With a 25% stake, the general public, consisting mainly of individual investors, has some influence over BerGenBio. Although this group may not necessarily make the decisions, they can certainly have a real influence on the way the business is run.

Private equity ownership

Private equity firms hold an 8.2% stake in BerGenBio. This suggests that they can influence key policy decisions. Sometimes we see private capital sticking around for the long haul, but generally they have a shorter investment horizon and, as the name suggests, don’t invest heavily in public companies. After a while, they may look to sell and redeploy capital elsewhere.

Private Company Ownership

It seems that private companies hold 38% of the shares of BerGenBio. It’s hard to draw conclusions from this fact alone, so it’s worth investigating who owns these private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares of a public company through a separate private company.

Next steps:

It is always useful to think about the different groups that own shares in a company. But to better understand BerGenBio, we need to consider many other factors. Take risks for example – BerGenBio has 3 warning signs (and 1 of concern) that we think you should know about.

If you’re like me, you might want to ask yourself if this business will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check out this free report showing analyst predictions for its future.

NB: The figures in this article are calculated using trailing twelve month data, which refers to the 12 month period ending on the last day of the month in which the financial statements are dated. This may not be consistent with the annual report figures for the full year.

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This Simply Wall St article is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It is not a recommendation to buy or sell stocks and does not take into account your objectives or financial situation. Our goal is to bring you targeted long-term analysis based on fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not take into account the latest announcements from price-sensitive companies or qualitative materials. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.